Sweet World of Joan

2007 is a trying and emotional time for me; it is also my busiest year, but I survived it. I always believe in the power of prayer, every endeavor I do I always ask the Lord to guide me to make the right decisions and never leave me during my darkest hours. Another thing that I do is treating myself every now and then to some “perks” like pedicures, facials and spas. It helps me recharge my batteries so to speak. I don’t consider shopping a perk because as my husband put it, it is my favorite pastime. This time my gift to myself was visiting my favorite spa, the Red Bamboo Spa at Riverbanks, Marikina City. I regularly go there maybe 3 to 4 times a year as a reward for a job well done be it in teaching or in business. It’s a good way to de stress and sooth the soul. I went there with my mother(its my Christmas gift to her) and we spent an hour of pleasure, being pampered like princesses. During the hour that my body is undergoing Swedish massage, my mind is clear and this time I let all...

Our Christmas this year can be considered “uneventful” or simply quiet, meaning this year we got to spend the holiday with just the family, no relatives from the province visiting or cousins stopping by. It was the time where you can just relax and bond with each other. The usual Christmas season for us is one big family reunion where relatives from the province arrive before Christmas and stays with us till January and our relatives here in the metro drops by to see them at any given time. I consider this Christmas season very memorable, it is when I got to bond with every member of the family during the Noche Buena preparations, each one has prepared a dish and for the whole day we work side by side while cooking. I also gave in to my son’s request to bake goodies, we made chicken empanada and boy he got to really got his hands dirty but enjoyed every minute of it, my parents prepared our favorite asadong baka, while my husband prepared a prawn dish which he calls “shrimp ala cham” (...

Many say that Christmas should be spent with your family. In our case where many families are apart due to economic reasons, many of our countrymen are abroad to earn a living for their families, Christmas can be a sad event. I am very fortunate that my husband does not have to go abroad anymore to earn a living, but it can’t be said of many families in the country. Luckily there are different ways for families to be together and keep in touch, there are the mobile communications, online chat and or emails and IMs. Keeping touch with each other is not difficult anymore, love ones are just a text message or phone call away. Technology today is also keeping up with the needs to the people, OFWs abroad can now send a Christmas gift to the Philippines through online stores. You can make your families feel loved by using these stores where you can pick products for them and have them delivered at home even if you are not in the Philippines. This kind of innovations enhances the relationshi...

A friend of mine called me up last week just to say hello, it was both a surprise and a delight to talk to her again. She was my classmate in High School, we’ve been only classmates for a year then I was moved to another section for the remaining three years. We have been close then but lost touch after high school; we met again in a school reunion four years ago and became close again since. I lost touch of her two years ago, and was regularly trying to contact her mobile phone ever since so it was really a surprise when she called. She entered a monastery to be a nun two years ago, I know of her plans and accompanied her in some of her search for the right order for her. I just did not know what order she had chosen and when is entered. Today she is out of the monastery for a mandatory period of soul searching to help her decide if she really wants to be a nun. I am so happy for her and can’t wait to meet her again. In reflection, friendships are like gift of jewels in our lives, the...

One of my dreams was to join a tiangge or bazaar, I was supposed to join one last November but it did not push through due to problems on logistics. I was lucky to join one this week at PSBA, they are celebrating their foundation day. The tiangge runs for four days and my brother who is studying there help me manage my booth. I did not earn much but I treat it as an important lesson for my business. Lessons Learned: The most important – study your market very well and make products that they will likely buy. Since my market was mostly students I had to price my products low and have products that appeal to them. Pick a location that has a lot of foot traffic. Make your booth attractive so that it easily attracts customers. Put tarpaulins, posters and make colorful decorations that reflect the products you are selling. Have fliers ready to be handed out to interested buyers, so that they can contact you if they want to purchase from you even after the bazaar is over. Have friendly and h...

The Christmas season is the peak season for my home based business and it keeps me "very- busy-that-there-is-not-much-sleeping-anymore" kind of busy but what I realized is that in making your business grow, you have to grow with it too. I started with just making chocolate lollipops seven years ago to having a whole product line that can hardly fit a short bond paper. Things can get complicated really quickly especially when you have deliveries scheduled. With all of this happening I have to develop business management skills fast. Supplier sourcing alone takes a lot of time and money. Looking for low price cost on my supplies like nuts, baking supplies and chocolates is done in October. Encountering out-of-stock supplies at this stage is nerve racking. Even remembering where to buy flour that cost the lowest can sometimes be a dilemma specially if that information is not readily available or I can’t remember where I bought it. I have three stores where I buy my supplies and ...

My parents are great cooks, maybe that is why I am so keen on learning to be a great one also. During the Christmas season I make it an effort to prepare something new for the whole family to taste and judge for themselves. Many of my products on my online store MylittleBaker comes from these recipes, they are tried and tested by my tough testers that only the best ones make it. On the picture above there are my work of love, the Tipsy Leche Flan, Minicakes and The Fruitcake. The Tipsy Leche Flan . I love leche flans but I only eat them during special occasions same with a little alcohol drink. So last year I decided to experiment a bit and put this two together and to my delight I was happily tipsy and it also help me control eating leche flan meaning I eat a few spoonful every meal to savor not like eating the whole llanera full. The Minicakes. I love cakes and what better occasion I can share my love for them than on Christmas season? During these times we have many visitors durin...

This is my second year to sell online homemade chocolates and baked goodies thru my website http://www.mylittlebaker.com/ . And the source of my inspiration is my little baker, my son Lorenzo. He is four years old and he really interested in cooking and baking. He really helps while I am baking, he reminds me that I need eggs or flour or other things and just recently he demands to wear an apron too. I was really glad that I have his chef uniform and apron made. I know his interest is cooking is because of the environment and his own interests, as you can see he loves to eat and appreciate it really well. I decided to nurture that interest but I won’t discourage his other interests. He loves books, toy trains, singing and dancing. We buy books at Goodwill when we go out and let him decide what books he wants to read. He has a passion for toy trains, his father offered to buy him one of those remote controlled cars but he just wanted the trains. So we bought one, it’s his eight toy trai...

We have recently bought a subdivision lot somewhere near Antipolo City, the community is designed to have a farm/garden homes and even have a cooperative to help you sell your produce. I loved the location and the view; it has a cool climate and is overlooking Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the country. It will take three to five years to develop the subdivision but that’s okay for us for we don’t have the budget to build the house on it at the moment. At least now we have the motivation to save more for the future. I’ve always wanted to have a farm, growing up in Manila you have a very different environment than what you can experience in the provinces. Lucky for us that my father comes from Bicol where the family lives a farm, such happy childhood memories like playing in rice fields and moving goats from one place is one of my precious experiences during summer breaks. Now I can look forward to have my own little farm and my son can have the experience on living in one. We are p...

I took my sweet time in deciding on how I can fully describe a Filipina at her finest and make it an entry in the " Filipina Writing Project " . There are so many facets of a Filipina that I don’t even know where to begin, but then my son showed my just last night what he thinks about me. I am his mommy, his teacher mommy, his doctor and a good playmate. In his eyes I play different roles in his life that is when I realize that being a Filipina we can consider ourselves a “ superwoman ”. What is a Filipina? Her own woman A Filipina can play a lot of role but she is her own woman. She knows what she wants in life, secure in her person making her sexy, independent and exciting. She can also be aggressive in pursuing in her career goals and in doing so become successful in anything she puts her mind to. A Wife and Mother Being one of the most sought out life partners by Filipinos and foreigners alike. I got to talk to different men of different nationalities and I ask them why ...

I have been in cyber "hibernation" for more than a month, before this happened I was so sure that I can handle the workload that I have. I’ve been teaching in two universities teaching 13 classes with 4 different subjects. I’m also a wife, a mother to a son attending nursery and manages a home without househelpers or “katulong”. I cook, clean the house and wash clothes on Sundays. I can’t even remember a day when I can just sit back, do nothing and relax all day. This is my life this year, aside from blogging and having my online choco-baking business on the side. My friends were concerned that I will burn myself out. I had managed well for a couple of months but when the final examination period(mid september to october) approached I was in a frenzy and my mind was so preoccupied about finals, last minute lectures and grade computations that I had trouble even thinking about other stuff like blogging and conceptualizing my website for the Christmas season. It was it seem I w...

Just got a letter from the credit card company today, it said “Being a valued credit card holder we have increased your total credit line by Php 50,000.00”. I said to myself “Wow! As if I’ll use my credit card to spend that big an amount. I’m not that suicidal” When my husband came home from work, I greeted him with “Love, we can readily buy a car now”. He asked “How’s that?” I replied with, “We can use our credit cards for all three on them now has 6-digits limits.” Hahaha. I told him that as a joke, for it amuses me how much these credit card companies tries to please you so you can spend more. Having credit cards today is common and at times necessary. I know many may say you can live without credit cards and your life is richer. I know that maybe I can have much more money saved if I don’t have them but as a consumer I availed them because of it gives me convenience and at times security. First of all my husband occasionally goes abroad and before we had credit cards it was hard fo...

I have been teaching in college for nine years now, these past few weeks I am faced with one of the hardest decisions I have ever made, to stop teaching so I can dedicate my time to my growing hobby turned business and at the same time be at home more for my son. It’s really been a soul searching journey for me; I laid down all my cards at the table so to speak and analyze every reason why I want to teach and why I want to work from home. My motivations when I chose a career in the academe are the flexible hours and I wanted to take up my master’s degree then. Another reason is that I am a people person, I love to interact with people and the great way to do that is by teaching. I was a programmer before but after a few months with only a few people to talk to and mostly the computer as a companion I became really depressed, it was a really demanding job and I realized I crave for people interaction. Those were my reasons nine years ago, and at present it seems I have accomplished wha...

My class in Introduction to Information and Technology have this blogging project, I gave them 5 blog post assignment(one post per week) with specific topics that will end this semester. It is not compulsory, it is to be their final project I let them choose between blogging or the traditional 30-paged term paper about how to earn money online. My students are freshmen BSBA students so the topic on the research is interesting/beneficial to them. Its been a very long and tiring week on keeping tabs on each of them as they create their blogs. One of our difficulties was there is no computer laboratory at PLMAR that has internet connection, so our communication during this writing project is thru text messaging, yahoo messenger, email and friendster. After a few sleepless nights checking and linking blogs to my tech site the digitized youth , which I made specially for my students in mind, I now have the pleasure of reading their blogs (and of course grading them). It is only the second ...

One of our dreams is to have our own house, and were on the planning stages on when, where and what do we need to have one. Owning a house or pursuing a business is on my mind nowadays, I have to decide which one would have to be first, for if we acquire a house first most of our financial resources would be pooled there and it would take years to pay off a housing loan and there might not be enough money left to start a business. While if we put our financial resources to support/put up a business, that business might grow and then we can have enough savings to buy the house we really wanted someday. It might take a few years but at least I would have an inspiration to really make the business a success. As of today we don’t really have the money to purchase a house in full and can only pay the down payment, and that’s for a house that is not even our dream house for houses on sale today are really so expensive. I am also checking very carefully on mortgage loans and mortgage loan pro...

I attended the networking night of Entrepreneur Magazine’s 60th Networking Night last night which was held at C3 Events Place. It was my first time to attend their networking events which is being held quarterly and I was very thankful that I did. I am in the process of preparing my online business for the Christmas season and was looking for alternatives where I can sell my products at a physical store perhaps for this coming season. I am considering leaving my teaching work and become a full time entrepreneur and so I am looking for ways for my business to be sustainable by itself. The event’s topic was about the Night Bazaars and Suppliers Special was really an eye opener for me. A few week’s ago when my husband suggested that I concentrate on my business fulltime I told him that I might need a small store or even a foodcart to sell my products but since I am alone I can’t bake and mind the store at the same time. What I need is a place where I sell at weekends and so that I can bak...

It is my third semester to teach my students about blogging. I started it last year with my computer engineering students in PUP as an additional topic and to my civil engineering and AB History students in the Intro to IT subject. I did not found it hard to teach the topic for most of the students regularly surfs the net and knows the ins and out, specially email, egroups and friendster and they are on their 3rd to 4th year in college. Some of the already have blogs and almost everyone wants to have their own blogs. We just discuss the basics like how to get started, where to get the free site and how to maintain their blogs plus what to blog about and what not to, and the students do the rest with minimal supervision from me. Then I regularly visit their blogs for additional extra points on their final grade and its not compulsory. This semester is quite different from the previous ones, I teach Intro to Information Technology at PLMAR (Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Marikina), to freshmen...

I am very thankful that blogs were invented, since I started blogging April of 2006 new doors were opened, I had the opportunity to meet great and extraordinary people and I started to really get to know the real me, know my strengths and weakness and it enabled me to become a better person. One person I have gotten to know through blogging is Elizabeth Pantley , a parent, educator, a mom like me and an author of eight books for parents including the best-selling No-Cry Series: The No-Cry Sleep Solution, The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers and The No-Cry Potty Training Solution. I was flattered when she e-mailed me and told me that she read my blog and it seems we share the same ideas on parenting. She asked me if I want to have a copy of her new book The No-Cry Discipline Solution: Gentle Ways to Encourage Good Behavior without Whining, Tantrums and Tears and give my review on it, of course I agreed for I am really interested on what I can learn on parenting. I ta...

GMA7 is making a remake of Marimar and will be televised starting Monday. When I first heard about it I was upset. Remaking something as good as Marimar would surely be unacceptable, specially thinking local stars portraying my favorite star Thalia , really pissed me off. But looking at the promotional pictures and getting a glimpse of the video piqued my interest, something in me took noticed and now I am looking forward to the telecast this coming Monday. Even my friends who were as addicted to Marimar ten years ago are all excited. Looking at the pictures I got from igma.tv, indicated that the soap is well made, I hope so. When Marimar was aired in RPN 9 in 1996 I was really hooked, even coming home early from work just to watch it, come to think of it, almost all of Manila was hooked with the Mexican Telenovela. I even watch the two concerts of Thalia when she came here in the country, and I have been a fan ever since I even have her latest album. The Marimar Plot Marimar is peasan...

Welcome to Sweet World!!! I have Categorized Myself! It's been weeks since my last post and I have really missed blogging. There are several reasons why.... the most notable is that we were sick! As in my whole family, it started with my son catching the virus at school making him sick for more than 2 weeks and ending it with both me and my husband being sick at the same time last weekend its was really one nasty bug for we had the fever, cold, cough, running nose and allergy, the whole ensalada at the same time. I still have the cold and the cough today lucky for me there was no classes last weekend. Another reason is the improvement of my blog, I've been meaning to do it for the longest time and luckily after a few "no classes/suspension" I had finally the time to do it. Here are the new things I accesorized myself with: Proudly Pinoy Logo - I am proud to be a Filipino and being inspired by Yatot I also displayed the logo. Pinoy Moms Network - I have been a mem...

Here is my final list for the writing project Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2007 . This is a writing project of Janette Toral that would be identifying new and emerging blogs that are making an impact to its readers in 2007. My final list is composed of blogs regulary read and helps me in my life, whether in my work or my personal activities. Here are my FINAL LIST of Emerging Influential Blogs in 2007 : An Apple a Day I like it being informative on a variety of topics nde nakakauyam Studies in Technoprenuership I like the discussions on everything IT Software and Web Development This site really made me stay put. Its really informative specially on topic of software development and having additional income through your blogs Stay at Home Mom Her blog about family makes me happy and gives me food for thought as I am considering being a stay at home mom too. feistymomma Like everything about her blog most specially the recipes the she shares http://www.fitsphere.com/ Its about th...

One of the my major preoccupation nowadays is redesigning my online business website MyLittleBaker, I have been surfing the Web for ideas, tips on how to maximize my website so I can maximize my profits this coming Christmas season. I sell chocolates and baked goodies and my peak season is Christmas and this year I intend to give it my all. Here are some nice I ideas I learned while surfing: Increase inventory of top-selling Holiday items by as much as 1000 percent. You already know your bestsellers based on the last few years' sales so it is safe to increase your stock of these items. Do E-mail advertising/marketing by October It is a good practice especially if you have many contacts to send them e-mails about your business and your products just in time when they are already thinking about the Christmas gifts they want to give to their friends and family. You can even start earlier especially here in the Philippines where we usually start the Christmas season when the months end...

When I attended the Parent Orientation at my son’s school I learned a new word “ SUHAY ” it means sugo ng buhay or protector/guardian of life(my interpretation of sugo). The school director, Msgr. Alfonso Bugawan told the parents present how important is their role in their child’s life. He told us at as parents we are the “suhay” of our children. I would like to share the Acronym PARENTS that he had given. He says that it can guide us in bringing up our children. P – Presence As parents we should not say “we don’t have time” for our children. He said we should give our children the “gift of our presence” A – Accountability We must be a more transparent and accountable parents. When we make promises to our children we should not break them for they trust us fully as the first person they trusts we are also teaching them how to trust other people R – Reconciliation Give them understanding on the level as children. When we get angry they may not understan...

It’s been a month since my four year old son Lorenzo started attending Nursery at Immaculate Conception Cathedral School and our life as a family will never be the same again. Immediately after Lorenzo started schooling my husband and I realized that our daily routines must be altered to adjust to Lorenzo’s school needs but what took me by surprised was that some of our beliefs or some of the way how we raise our son would also be reevaluated and changed. I had this notion before that when Lorenzo goes to school his every need in relation to teaching him about reading and writing will be taken care of at school and I would just be at home marveling on the progress he is making. I WAS WRONG. I realized that sending your child to school meant that the things he learned at school should also be reinforced and practiced at home. I realized that the amount of assignment a Nursery pupil can be overwhelming for both the pupil and parent. Attending the Parent Orientation and PTA meeting help ...

Having a business seems one of those things that seems I can’t live without in my life, since I was in elementary I usually find myself selling something, on school days I sell sandwiches to my classmates because they seem to love the sandwiches prepared by my mother, I even sell them made-to-order. I always have these 20 to 30 sandwiches to sell at school. On summer breaks I put a table in front of our gate and sell chicharon with vinegar to my neighbors or anything that they might buy. I did not do it for the money but for the joy of selling something. It did not even came to my mind to pursue a course on business in college because I fell in love with computers in high school but after graduating a degree in computer engineering and pursuing a career as a programmer, the business bug came again and came in the form of an IT consulting venture which did not succeed maybe because we were all young and having big money coming in, we were unprepared on how to handle it. The good thing t...

It's been two weeks since the start of classes, weeks filled with adjustments for me and my family. For me it is time to go to work again as a college computer instructor and for my son it is the start of a new chapter of his life, SCHOOL. One of the reasons why I chose to teach than to continue my career as a computer programmer is the freedom to choose my time when to go work. I really wanted to have a family so before getting married I shifted to teaching. One of the great things about teaching is that you have summer and Christmas breaks or vacations, but its downside you also don't have a source of income during the whole summer. At least you have a time to try new things and indulge in activities that you can't do when you are working in an office. Summers are a great time especially if you have kids, you have a time wherein you can really bond with each other. This past summer is really a special and memorable time for me and my son Lorenzo. We really got to bond, it...

My Blog have been silent for a week now, its because of my crazy schedule as the semester have started and teaching in two universities, having a son attend preschool, and caring for my family without a house-help made my life a little crazy. I knew it would happen. Attempting to teach at two schools located in different cities in the metro would be challenging, plus having my son’s school right in between. What saved me is some future planning, meals planned two weeks before, schedules on the whiteboard in the kitchen, a supportive family and buying my new toy. I’ve been planning on buying a laptop since January I realized that I’ll be needing one specially if I am serious in pursuing my online business. I first made sure that my son’s tuition is all saved up for its not good if I have a laptop but my son can’t attend school because of no money. Then think you ways and strategies in buying my laptop without adding to our current expenses. My life in going through changes at the moment...

June 13, 2007, Lorenzo's First Day in School . The day started early for me, making breakfast and preparing the clothes to wear plus the things to bring like water and the cameras, Lorenzo's class starts at 11:30 and we will be picked up by the school bus at 11am. With the food ready, I woke-up Lorenzo at 9 but he is still wants to sleep, carrying him down the stairs and making him sit on the chair, I allotted 30 minutes for him to eat. By 10am it is bath time and at 10:30 we were all ready and waiting. The truth was we had a struggle to make him take a bath and dress up for he wants to go to SM Mall of Asia instead of going to school. He was only appeased when I told him we are going to SM after attending his class. His mood changed when he saw his school bus, jumping up and down he was excited when he saw kids his age at the bus. We decided to get the services of a school bus because if we commute going to school he have to battle the traffic and the elements specially with t...

It’s my son’s first day of school tomorrow and after two weeks of waiting my son will FINALLY go to school. It has been two weeks of waking up in the mornings with Lorenzo coming to breakfast with his bag in tow telling me his ready to go to school. I hope everything goes smoothly tomorrow, the batteries of my digital camera and camcorder are being recharged at the moment in preparation for the BIG day, meals and clothes planned and prepared. I’ll blog his first day on my next post. I was very particular about the school my son will be attending. Even before I had him I already have a mental list of the kind of schools my future children will go to. Here are the things considered when looking for a school for my son: Location It must be near our home and readily accessible through different modes of transportation. If it is in walking distance the better. Legitimacy and Reputation of the School The school should be licensed and registered and receives good feedback from the existing pa...

I am excited to tell everybody that I recently joined the Pinoy moms network . And I would like to share some tidbits about myself. Hello my fellow mommies! My name is Joan Piñon, I am a mommy to Lorenzo, my 4 year old son. My dream is to become a mother since I was a child and having Lorenzo fulfilled that dream after 2 years of waiting. I joined the Pinoy moms network to reach out to mothers like me and to learn more about motherhood from fellow mothers in the network. I catalog my life through my blog Sweet World of Joan. I have been blogging for a year now and now trying to regularly put entries on it. I am a very passionate person that I believe is reflected on my blogs. My life at present is a life filled with planning and decisions to be made, my son just started schooling and I want to be there for him but I have my work too. I am now considering of just being a stay-at-home mommy but I still have to weigh in everything and hopes that this network will give me insights in the d...

I had an opportunity to catch up on a student of mine who recently graduated, we chatted the afternoon away and talked mostly about his career path and how he choose the company he works for at present and his future career moves. He gave me his permission in blogging some parts of our conversation. I left out his name and the companies we are talking about for his privacy. I had the opportunity to help him prepare in applying for his current company that is why I have some knowledge of his expectations. Backgrounder: A recent computer engineering graduate, he is aggressive, above average academically and have the technical knowledge and background in technical support. At present he is being trained in one of the prestigious multination IT company and has a big possibility in being trained abroad after his training here. And our conversation starts….. How are you now? Have you started your training? I really want the work here(his current company) but we have not yet started in my tra...

I bought my son Lorenzo his school uniform yesterday and since then he can’t seem to part with it. This morning immediately after waking he brought it out and asked to put it on with his new black shoes and proudly parade it to everyone, he even wants to go out of the house and really go to Immaculate . I have to explain to him that he have to wait till next week to go to school. I have to take his picture so that he can see himself in his uniform anytime. His school bus is also ready and we are counting the days for his first school day. Tonight we had a very rainy night, heavy downpour, thunder storms and a very long brownout. We had dinner in candlelight and even before we finish eating the flood can inside the house, flood in the bathroom and leaks on the roof. I concluded that this is the start of the rainy season. We receive a very wet welcome from this season. We live in an apartment compound and every door had been flooded, it was suppose to be repaired this summer by the landl...

Joining this The Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2007 challenge of Janette Toral is really a good way of knowing your fellow bloggers. It keeps you updated in what is going on in the blogosphere and at the same time it enriches you when you are reading blogs of other people. Here are my Emerging Influential Blogs in 2007 : An Apple a Day I like it being informative on a variety of topics nde nakakauyam Studies in Technoprenuership I like the discussions on everything IT Software and Web Development This site really made me stay put. Its really informative specially on topic of software development and having additional income through your blogs Stay at Home Mom Her blog about family makes me happy and gives me food for thought as I am considering being a stay at home mom too. feistymomma Like everything about her blog most specially the recipes the she shares www.fitsphere.com Its about the journey of losing weight, I am interested for I am also in the same journey. It’s nice to ...

My son Lorenzo is already four years old and we reach an important landmark of his life, “Going to School”, he will be attending Nursery this June 5, 2007. As a mother I am filled with pride, excitement and anxiety. Pride because I know that my child is intelligent and is an avid reader at his age ( he surfs the net almost daily – under supervision of course ). Excitement because I look forward of him learning to read and write, telling me about his day in school and hearing him sing new songs. Anxiety because this is the first time in four years that I will let him go and be supervised by someone else besides me( Oh its tough being an mommy and educator for your standards in teaching is high ). I know at his age many will say he started late in attending school for most schools now a days offer nursery as early as 2 ½ yrs old. I don’t really believe in putting children to school unless they are ready and really want to attend one. There might be a case of school burn-out in the fu...

While having my summer general house cleaning done I came across this little booklet about Getting Money Wise, it was a free supplement from a Good Housekeeping Magazine which I bought a few years ago. I knew I read it all before and reading it again today gave me a new perspective on my family’s immediate and future plans. My son will start his schooling this year and tuition fees and maintenance like the school bus, uniforms etc, need to be included in the family budget. I have plans for buying equipments for my home business and they are not cheap plus I am looking into having a store in the mall. We plan to purchase a house next year. Big Dreams, Big Investments and Big MONEY. The booklet really helped me check if our financial plans are feasible or not. Here are some tips from the booklet I want to share. Get Loan–Savvy If you plan to get a loan here are guide questions you should ask yourselves before getting one. Do I really need to borrow money? How much money should I borrow? ...

This mother’s day celebration was indeed memorable for my family(my parents, a younger brother and my own family) , we went to church in the morning and spent the day strolling around Araneta Center in Cubao. Window shopped for my son’s school shoes and bought him a new toy and a new blender for myself. Went to Shopwise for some items needed for the afternoon’s special snacks. We had a prepared it already before we left the house in the morning. The Tiramisu: My husband decided to surprise me with Red Ribbon’s Tiramisu Meltdown as a Mother’s Day Gift, that was the plan. He went to the Red Ribbon store early in the morning and said that he will meet us at the church. After an hour he went back home frustrated and told me that my gift is not yet available and said that he will go back again after the mass. That was when he told me about the tiramisu gift. Many of my friends know that I so loved chocolates and cakes and a few weeks before I have this late night cravings for chocolate m...

I attended Every Nation Campus Ministry’s 3rd Annual Educator’s Assembly last Tuesday, May 8, 2007 held at the Assembly Hall of Every Nation Building at Bonifacio Global City. I was invited to the event by my students and went there with my good friend Pedrito. The assembly aims to recognize and honor educators, encourage them in preparation for the upcoming school year, and reaffirm their commitment to partner with educators in preparing students for L.I.F.E.(Leadeship, Integrity, Faith and Excellence). The assembly was attended by educators(Elementary, High School and College levels) and school officials from different schools in Metro Manila and nearby provinces. The speakers talked about how important the role of a teacher in a child’s life, there were group exercises encouraging everyone to share stories about the teacher in your life that left a big impression or had a big influence in you. It was fun and it showed everybody how a caring teacher can influence the future of a chi...